Making waves - literally

The fifth annual Terrapin Waveriders Surf Club Competition, sponsored by the university's surf club and the Eastern Surfing Association, has already been rescheduled once this month and was canceled Saturday due to choppy waves.

"It just sucks, 'cause we lost a lot of money, but it happens," said Michael Vandeven, a junior kinesiology major and treasurer of the Terrapin Waveriders Surf Club. The club lost $700 this weekend on an insurance permit needed to use the Ocean City beach, said Sean Kibby, the group's president. But the loss won't impact the group's trips or agenda for the rest of the year, Kibby, a junior government and politics major, added.

"We usually lose money," Kibby said, adding that the club lost $100 last year when the competition was at its peak.

The annual competition attracts many local schools because it is one of the few large collegiate surfing competitions in the Northeast, and the university's club generally places well, Kibby said.

Every year, five or six schools come out and bring 50 to 115 students to join in the competitive surfing, which is organized into multiple heats. The first heat involves students surfing with their own schools within their own skill levels, either shortboard or longboard, senior economics major Gerardo Talavera said. Judges eventually narrow down the surfers to pick the best in long board and best in short board, Talavera said.

"The competition has a sweet vibe. Everyone comes up to the beach and hangs out," Kibby said.

But that doesn't mean the competition is relaxed - in fact, "it gets pretty competitive," Kibby added.

Last year's competition was the largest yet, with approximately 115 students from six schools, including UNC Wilmington and Rhode Island University, Kibby said.

Even without a competition Saturday, approximately 30 university and Salisbury University students came to see if the waves would get better and allow them to surf. These trips to Ocean City are common to the students, whether they are officially sponsored by the club or not, Talavera said.

"It's a really tight group this year," said Talavera as he explained the club's tendency to take road trips to the beach "whenever there's waves."

The club was created in the 1970s but died out somewhere in the 1980s. It was restarted in the early 1990s and has grown every year since, Kibby said.

Kibby said 60 students showed up for the club's first meeting this fall, and about 40 members are still active.

Even though members can't practice near College Park, many students go longboarding on their skateboards and go "street surfing" in an attempt to stay in shape for when they can hit the waves, Talavera said.

Members do not need their own equipment to participate on trips. There are eight club boards and multiple wet suits available if students want to try the sport out - something members encourage.

"It's a really cool vibe, people are great and it's just about having fun," Talavera said.

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